WASHINGTON — The former treasurer for the National Republican Congressional Committee diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars — and possibly as much as $1 million — of the organization’s funds into his personal accounts, GOP officials said Thursday, describing an alleged scheme that could become one of the largest political frauds in recent history.

For at least four years, Christopher Ward, who is now under investigation by the FBI, allegedly used wire transfers to funnel money out of National Republican Congressional Committee coffers and into other political committee accounts he controlled as treasurer, committee leaders and lawyers said in their first public statement since they turned over the matter to the FBI six weeks ago.

“The evidence we have today indicated we have been deceived and betrayed for a number of years by a highly respected and trusted individual,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., National Republican Congressional Committee chairman.

The committee also announced that it had submitted to banks five years of audits and financial documents allegedly faked by Ward, some of which were used to secure multimillion-dollar loans. It is a violation of federal bank fraud laws to obtain loans through false statements; the crime is punishable by as much as $1 million in fines and 30 years in prison.

Prior to Thursday, the committee, which raised $49 million in 2007, had not acknowledged that any money was missing. It announced Feb. 1 that it had discovered “irregularities” that might involve fraud, dismissed Ward and called in federal investigators.

Robert Kelner, an attorney with Covington & Burling, which has been hired to oversee an internal forensic audit, told reporters he is certain only that Ward had made “several hundred thousand dollars” in unauthorized money transfers since 2004. However, he said, the year-end report filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 2006 overstated the committee’s actual cash-on-hand by $990,000.

That may be the upper level of how much money Ward allegedly skimmed from National Republican Congressional Committee coffers, Kelner said. But the total will not be known until forensic auditors finish “drilling down” to determine how much money might have been misappropriated and how much may be missing as a result of sloppy bookkeeping.

Kelner said Ward was the only National Republican Congressional Committee official empowered to use wire transfers to shift money into any account without a second approval.

After transferring the money into accounts he controlled, often for dormant fundraising committees associated with the committee, Ward allegedly moved it into accounts for either his political consulting business or his personal bank accounts, Kelner said.

Kelner said the committee has had no contact with Ward since he was fired Jan. 28. Ronald Machen, Ward’s attorney, declined to comment on the ongoing investigation yesterday, as did the FBI.

The Post reported Thursday that Ward served as treasurer for 83 GOP committees this decade. In the past five years, the committees took in more than $400 million in contributions.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told the Post this week that Ward paid himself $6,000 in funds from King’s political action committee in 2007 after he thought he had closed down the committee.

Politico.com reported Thursday night that Ward lent himself more than $4,200 from the political action committee of Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, an usual expenditure for a campaign treasurer to make. Ward repaid the money early last month, after the FBI was called in to investigate Ward’s work at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

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